Paragraphs: Unnecessary For The Ticket Office

[Tear Down This Wall]

Received second e-mail of the day from the ticket office. It reads:

"Boomer Sooner! Tomorrow, August 1, 2015, Sooner Rewards will relaunch for the upcoming OU Athletics Season! The purpose of Sooner Rewards is to say thank you to all Sooner Fans for your continued loyalty. Our goal is to bring you closer to Oklahoma Athletics by rewarding you for everything you do with us. The easiest way to do this is to download the Sooner Rewards App at either the Apple Store or Google Play. You will be rewarded for purchasing tickets, attending events and interacting with the Sooners online. Rewards Members earn points to participate in once in a lifetime experiences you cannot get anywhere else. We will start tomorrow with Ruf/Nek shotguns, pre-game, on-field experiences at 2015 OU home games, and a pre-game experience at the AT&T Red River Showdown. For OU Students you are eligible to enter all of those Sooner Rewards AND the opportunity to get $2,500 or $1,000 in tuition waivers or $500 for books this semester! Follow @SoonerRewards for updates throughout the year. We will be launching PUSH notifications with Rewards at events in Norman and we will be receiving a new APP in Mid-August to make your Sooner Rewards experience even better. For those fans who are new to Sooner Rewards it is easy to sign up and participate. Visit Rewards.SoonerSports.com and register. For those fans who have been with us you will notice a re-set of your points will take place tomorrow for the upcoming season. All fans will start the season at the same level. Remember the points you earn are good for entries to win the experiences in the Prize Store. If you have any questions you can contact us at (e-mail address of the e-mail's author) Stay tuned for more great Sooner Rewards to come! Kick-off is only 36 days away!"

<Sigh>

I don't know whether this kid is a student at OU or just someone who was hired by the University to work in the ticket office. Over the years, though, all of my interactions with the ticket office have been with students or alumni.

It's bad enough that many kids get out of high school without the ability to communicate well in writing. To get all the way through college and not be able to communicate well in writing is doubly bad.

Many pointlessly wonder why the value of a college degree is so low these days. Well, if you are no better at writing when you graduate than when you first set foot on campus....

Pathetic.

[SoonerorLater]

Received second e-mail of the day from the ticket office. It reads:

"Boomer Sooner! Tomorrow, August 1, 2015, Sooner Rewards will relaunch for the upcoming OU Athletics Season! The purpose of Sooner Rewards is to say thank you to all Sooner Fans for your continued loyalty. Our goal is to bring you closer to Oklahoma Athletics by rewarding you for everything you do with us. The easiest way to do this is to download the Sooner Rewards App at either the Apple Store or Google Play. You will be rewarded for purchasing tickets, attending events and interacting with the Sooners online. Rewards Members earn points to participate in once in a lifetime experiences you cannot get anywhere else. We will start tomorrow with Ruf/Nek shotguns, pre-game, on-field experiences at 2015 OU home games, and a pre-game experience at the AT&T Red River Showdown. For OU Students you are eligible to enter all of those Sooner Rewards AND the opportunity to get $2,500 or $1,000 in tuition waivers or $500 for books this semester! Follow @SoonerRewards for updates throughout the year. We will be launching PUSH notifications with Rewards at events in Norman and we will be receiving a new APP in Mid-August to make your Sooner Rewards experience even better. For those fans who are new to Sooner Rewards it is easy to sign up and participate. Visit Rewards.SoonerSports.com and register. For those fans who have been with us you will notice a re-set of your points will take place tomorrow for the upcoming season. All fans will start the season at the same level. Remember the points you earn are good for entries to win the experiences in the Prize Store. If you have any questions you can contact us at (e-mail address of the e-mail's author) Stay tuned for more great Sooner Rewards to come! Kick-off is only 36 days away!"

<Sigh>

I don't know whether this kid is a student at OU or just someone who was hired by the University to work in the ticket office. Over the years, though, all of my interactions with the ticket office have been with students or alumni.

It's bad enough that many kids get out of high school without the ability to communicate well in writing. To get all the way through college and not be able to communicate well in writing is doubly bad.

Many pointlessly wonder why the value of a college degree is so low these days. Well, if you are no better at writing when you graduate than when you first set foot on campus....

Pathetic.

A paragraph adverse writer with poor syntax is no way to engender enthusiasm for the athletic program of a major university.

On a positive note it appears the writer did use Spell-check.

[olevetonahill]

I received it 3 times.

[Curly Bill]

Pfffffttttt...proper writing?!?!

It's more important that we make these precious darlings feel good about themselves.

[Mazeppa]

I only got it twice.

[yermom]

I only got it twice.

we aren't Olevet rich

i only got it twice as well

[KantoSooner]

Writing is not STEM; therefore, it has no place in education.

[olevetonahill]

I only got it twice.

we aren't Olevet rich

i only got it twice as well

Bunch of Paupers

[OUinFLA]

When I went to OU they had an English Proficiency Exam you took at the start of your junior year. You had to write a 1500 word essay, any subject mater you wanted. Then it was graded and the outcome determined if you would be required to take another English course before you could graduate.

I wrote an essay outlining why I thought this was a stupid educational requirement.

Either I wrote it well enough, or they took my suggestion seriously and informed me by letter that I was proficient enough.

Do they still do that?

btw, I no longer feel it is a stupid idea. I probably didn't really feel that way at the time. It was what popped into my mind when I showed up that evening to demonstrate my ability to write.

[yermom]

I just had to take two English classes. 'Bout killed me.

[SicEmBaylor]

English is not herd.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Writing is not STEM; therefore, it has no place in education.

Sadly, that's about the mindset of most schools. Who'd have thought technical writers might someday be useful to simple sports ticket communications.

One of my curses is that I doubled majored in Business and English Lit. Here, then, is what I would do for the lad if I were his tutor:

Boomer Sooner! Tomorrow, August 1, 2015, Sooner Rewards will relaunch for the upcoming OU Athletics Season! The purpose of Sooner Rewards is to say thank you to all Sooner Fans for your continued loyalty.

Sooner Rewards' goal is to bring you, the supporter and fan, closer to Oklahoma Athletics by rewarding you attending school sponsored athletic events and interacting with the athletic department. The easiest way to do this is to download the Sooner Rewards App at either the Apple Store or Google Play. You will be rewarded for purchasing tickets, attending events, and interacting with the Sooners online.

Rewards Members earn points to participate in once in a lifetime experiences you cannot get anywhere else. Points earned in Sooner Rewards are good for entries to win the experiences in the Prize Store.

The Sooner Rewards program begins tomorrow with Ruf/Nek shotguns [Editor's Question: Ruf/Neks shotguns doing what? Are we winning one? Are we firing one down on the field witht he Ruf/Neks? More information needed.). There will also be pre-game and on-field experiences at 2015 OU home games as well as a pre-game experience at the AT&T Red River Showdown.

OU Students are also eligible to enter all Sooner Rewards programs. By participating in Sooner Rewards, students will have the opportunity to receive up to $2,500 in tuition waivers or $500 for books this semester!

Follow @SoonerRewards for updates throughout the year. Sooner Rewards will include PUSH notifications for events in Norman. Plus, a new APP will be released in Mid-August to make your Sooner Rewards experience even better. [Editor's Note: I didn't have any clue what he is talking about here with PUSH notifications, so I just guessed. When writing, you cannot assume your audience understands everything you do. That is why you are writing - to explain to your audience what you know, or what they need to know.]

For those fans who are new to Sooner Rewards, it is easy to sign up and participate. Visit Rewards.SoonerSports.com and register. Everyone who participates in Sooner Rewards will start the season at the same level. So, for those fans who have been with us, your points will be reset tomorrow for the upcoming season.

If you have any questions you can contact us at (e-mail address of the e-mail's author) Stay tuned for more great Sooner Rewards to come! Kick-off is only 36 days away!"




Honestly, I'm sure that they just threw some kid on this. Surely, however, someone in the athletic department clued the kid in that the e-mail was mainly going to "old people"/long time season ticket holders. Surely? For sure. Totally.

[KantoSooner]

And Ms. Mauser, my writing prof when at OU, would approve. OU has great support resources available. You can't force kids to use them, though.